Microsoft's 'Halo 3' a digital juggernaut

STOCKTON - Greg Dorris has a 9-to-5 job as a shift leader at the Game Crazy store on Pacific Avenue in Stockton, but apparently, he just can't get enough.

Staff and wire reports

STOCKTON - Greg Dorris has a 9-to-5 job as a shift leader at the Game Crazy store on Pacific Avenue in Stockton, but apparently, he just can't get enough.

After working through the day Monday, he planned to return to the store to stand in line with other video-game enthusiasts for the midnight release of "Halo 3." The kill-or-be-killed shooter is expected to be the hottest selling title of the year.

"It's going to be a heavy hitter," Dorris said. "I wouldn't be surprised if there's a line around Hollywood Video tonight."

And if some people are willing to spend half the night waiting for the first chance to lay their hands on the game, you can bet they'll likely spend the other half of the night plugged into their Xbox 360 consoles.

"The buzz on 'Halo 3' is such that I can guarantee a lot of people are going to call in sick tomorrow," said Neal Gabriel, a game adviser at the GameStop store in Tracy.

"Seriously, I got to play the beta (pre-release version)," he said. "The graphics were through the roof, the game play is really good, and some of the weapon modifications were just awesome."

Publisher Microsoft Corp. hopes that kind of enthusiasm will translate into blockbuster sales, even embracing the notion that Halo hero Master Chief will blast his way past the movie industry's Spider-Man.

Microsoft has a lot riding on "Halo 3." It could be what the company's Entertainment and Devices Division needs to - in the exhortation of the game - "finish the fight" to profitability.

Executives have pledged to bring the division into the black this fiscal year after pouring as much as $7 billion into it over the past seven-plus years, including a $749 million charge this summer to repair and extend warranties on the Xbox 360 console.

"I think they're really counting on 'Halo 3' to drive profitability for that business division this year," said Matt Rosoff, analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "This is kind of a make-or-break season for them."

Even if the game can get Microsoft's entertainment division into the black, many in and around the game industry think it will do little to affect sales of Nintendo's Wii. The Wii has been the top-selling console this year in the United States, Microsoft's strongest market. The only thing that has limited sales of the device thus far has been chronically short supplies.

"The unique factor about the Wii is that it appeals not only to hard-core enthusiasts but to the mass market," said Billy Pidgeon, a video game analyst at IDC, an industry research firm. Despite "Halo 3's" debut, "Nintendo will sell as many (Wiis) as they can produce," he added.

If the Wii is unassailable, some analysts argue that Microsoft's best shot with "Halo 3" is to deal a blow to Sony's PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 and Sony's new console target hard-core gamers, they note. With the lineup of games for the PlayStation 3 unimpressive thus far, "Halo 3" could help lure to the Xbox 360 gamers who have been sitting on the fence about which console to buy.

"It clearly could have an effect on the PlayStation 3," said David Cole, an analyst with DFC Intelligence in San Diego. "This is Microsoft's big opportunity to try" to take market share from Sony.

Microsoft reported that more than a million copies were pre-ordered before the release date, at prices from about $60 for the game itself, $69.99 for a limited edition that includes an art book and other extras, and $130 for a "legendary edition" complete with a replica helmet worn by Master Chief.

"Halo 3" - at least in the single-player version - promises to complete the saga of hero Master Chief, an armored human soldier of the future returning to Earth in an effort to save humanity from alien invaders.

"We've definitely heard a lot of complaints about the cliffhanger ending in 'Halo 2,' " said Brian Jarrard, an executive for Bungie Studios, which Microsoft acquired in 2000. "For us, this is the third chapter. We are definitely wrapping up the story arc. We talk about it as our 'Return of the King.' "

Still, it doesn't appear the series will be fading anytime soon.

A strategy video game called "Halo Wars" is set for release next year. Last year, Microsoft reached a deal in which Peter Jackson, the Academy Award-winning director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and his wife, screenwriter Fran Walsh, will help create two new video games, at least one of them in the "Halo" universe.

The Associated Press and McClatchy-Tribune Information Services contributed to this report.

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